D&S Animal Rescue speaks about senior pet program

A volunteer animal rescue group highlighted one of its programs Wednesday to a group at the Ridgecrest Senior Center.

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Ridgecrest Daily Independent - Ridgecrest, CA

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Posted Jan. 9, 2014 at 8:25 AM

Posted Jan. 9, 2014 at 8:25 AM

A volunteer animal rescue group highlighted one of its programs Wednesday to a group at the Ridgecrest Senior Center.

Dawn Watchus of D&S Loving Animal Rescue pitched her organization's Senior to Senior care program, how she and other volunteers help save and rehabilitate animals.

“People get to have the animal in the home, enjoy its company, and in return the animal gets a home environment,” Watchus said. “We will also help with any needs that animal has in case some seniors can't do some things.”

Watchus said that D&S will “do anything to keep the animal in the home.” If a situation arises where a senior can't take care of the animal, the rescue agency will take the animal back at a call.

“We started this process a few months ago to help people,” she said.

D&S has been around since 1992 and functions as a solely all-volunteer service. It is a “no-kill” shelter, where rescued animals are rehabilitated and placed up for adoption.

“We also go around doing a lot of trapping around the city and have animals spayed or neutered, and then we release them back into the community,” Watchus said. “They'll be released into a familiar environment but they won't reproduce; we're trying to stop overpopulation (of animals).”

The organization has also taken in animals that might be blind, or had broken limbs, and rehabilitates them. They work with professionals in California and Nevada to get the animals in tip-top shape.

One example of a rescue was shown Wednesday.

“This is Levi and he was found under a trailer nearly frozen,” Watchus said, holding up a white kitten. “When I first got Levi, he could not use his back legs at all so he couldn't walk.”

Since then, D&S has done rehabilitation and water therapy with the kitten every day.

“He can pull the legs underneath him, and stand up on them, and he's getting to where he can hop now,” Watchus said.

Additional surgery will be required to remove Levi's deformed tail.

“He's got a really good prognosis for a good, healthy life,” Watchus said.

Watchus said that the shelter has more cats than dogs, given that Ridgecrest is “a dog-friendly” community.

“We end up with a lot of cats,” she said.

Adoption or fostering of animals is done at the D&S Shelter, where Watchus said she encouraged appointments.

“That we can plan our day around people coming in and we have a lobby area set up for people to relax while we bring the animal out to relax, see who that person is and bond with that person,” Watchus said. “You actually get to meet the animal on its own terms and see its real personality.”

Page 2 of 2 - D&S Loving Animal Rescue is located at 714 East Bowman Road, and can be reached at 760-301-0141, or visited online at www.dsrescue.org.